Michael Jackson Portrait
Monday, June 29, 2009
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Posted byJason Raish at 10:02 AM 0 comments
The Sprit of Michael Jackson is free
two versions of an illo in response to the recent death of Michael Jackson. I once read an article about how we are all responsible for what Michael became. We as the public demanded a lot from him and enjoyed pointing fingers at him too. His childhood was stolen from him. He was a little child singing songs with sexual content that he didnt understand. Fame probably tore him apart as it does many child stars. His father nicknamed him "Big Nose". Anyway it was an interesting article and kind of true. 
The spirit of Michael Jackson is now free from its tortured vessel that has been torn apart by the public. Maybe little Michael can now have that childhood he never got to have.
The spirit of Michael Jackson is now free from its tortured vessel that has been torn apart by the public. Maybe little Michael can now have that childhood he never got to have.
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Posted byJason Raish at 3:44 AM 0 comments
Chinese ink and brush quick drawings
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Some quick experiments with Chinese brushes and ink. go on try it. you will forever admire people who can harness this awesome medium. I have about 50 more years to go. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate brushwork into my work. 
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Posted byJason Raish at 4:59 AM 0 comments
Prep for 798 Show
Monday, June 01, 2009
in preparation for a little show in 798 that would include 3 of my illustrations i had to take on the laborious task of finding a good print shop in beijing again. i had given up. this time around i found a place that had the same epson printer we had at FIT and even the newest one. It's at the Central Academy of Fine Art or something like that. and yes the prints were very satisfactory this time. i had them printed on genuine epson fine art paper.
an older model of the Canon copier from FIT
the lastest Epson printer. it has 11 inks! and is super fast
they probably have these at all chinese colleges, just like they have them on all the trains (not subway). a hot water dispensor for tea and ramen and the like.
a macro shot of the awesome allergens in beijing.
awesome homemade toilet seat at the college
at the frame shop. mostly these guys frame crap all day. i mean needle point stuff made from a pattern. things so tacky that i am ashamed i forgot to take a pic of some examples.
a frame cutting machine.
smoke stack at the school. this got out of order somehow.
including the frame and 8cm matte this thing is huge. like 75% the size of my bed!
Posted byJason Raish at 3:13 PM 3 comments
New illozzzzz
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Cover for Strategic Finance magazine. the had a 3 issue feature on Chinese accounting in China and how it is progressing and or staying traditional/old
a spot illustration for The New Physician. the article talked a lot about empathizing with the patients.
Cover for Practical Accountant. The feature story is about "Onboarding" new staff, meaning getting young people to join your company and stay there.
spot illo for the golf magazine rules column. this time it was asking if its ok to remove leaves from the line of putt. the answer was you can if you use the back of your hand only.
Posted byJason Raish at 1:58 AM 2 comments
China National Gallery in Beijing again
Thursday, May 07, 2009
went back to the China national gallery because Zizzo wanted to go see the Joseph Turner Exhibition on loan from the Tate. No pics of the Joseph turner exhibit beacuse it was dark and they were really militant about taking photos. that doesn't mean i didnt take fotos but i found this chinese painter's stuff waaaaay more inspirational. There were like at least 100 paintings by this guy. the guy is 69 and he looks pretty healthy so he looks like he has some more years of turning out these amazing paintings in him. This style is the Xie Yi style of Chinese painting (black ink brushes, not really any lines). I am absolutely dumbstruck as an artist by this kind of stuff. I am looking for a way to incorporate it into my work.
to give you a scale of how big this guy works. this was the biggest piece. the rest are either huge or really big. Xie Yi painting uses the white of the paper in combination with varying the amount of water and how diluted the inks are to achieve depth. that means if you F up its really bad. can you imagine how intimidating it would be to paint on this huuuuuge piece of paper that probably costs a fortune and had to be prepped and treated and soaked for days?!!
he had several differnt rooster paintings but this composition was the coolest.
I like this guy because he mixed some gong bi hua elements in there (the lines on the flower petals) to create this brush strokey but at the same time graphic look.
this one was the second biggest. look at all the white on there. look at all the layering and differnt opacities of ink and paint. can you imagine painting on this? its like 10 feet long. by the time you get over to the 9 foot mark i would have soiled my daipers 20 times over from fear of a misplaced ink droplet or a smear.
awesome topaz color used on this instead of green.
a muted green on red color scheme also awesome.
a lot of his stuff features 2 birds on the branches. there is probably an extremely poetic and beautiful reason why its always two birds. as we were walking through Zizzo was saying that every painting had a beautiful title that really hits the heart. this is a time when i wish i had a full grasp of the chinese language because if the names of the paintings alone can move Zizzo, who i don't take as an arty guy at all, then it would probably knock me out!
love the splashes of graphic leaves and flowers randomly in his work
this is not part of the exhibition. everything in these rooms looked of lesser quality and def not done by "masters", yet there were still some cool things. this thing seriusly looks like it was made with one of those fat magic markers but its still awesome and looks very illustrative.
so in conclusion the china national gallery is awesome again and if you like art then you should def come here. Debbie and Salih were are def going here when you come! another note is that i feel like Chinese and Japanese people have a better appreciation for art, especially their countries art than Americans have. i guess it doesn't help that American art is all over the place due to our history but still it seems like Chinese and Japanese people have a deeper appreciation. good job guys.
Posted byJason Raish at 12:55 PM 0 comments
Movie Inspiration - Wong Kar Wai's "2046"
Monday, April 27, 2009
More movie inspiration. 2046 is a movie by Wong Kar Wai, a Hong Kong director. He is a true artist. The guy has consistently turned out beautiful, colorful, well composed movies. I have posted before his movie "In the Mood for Love" and 2046 is more of the same. There are brief parts of the movie that are futuristic and i don't care for those so luckily most of the movie is in the 50's and 60's time period in Hong Kong. Again Wong Kar Wai uses analogous color schemes and has great wardrobes and moody lighting. Christopher Doyle again delivers awesome cinematography and shot transfers. This is a long movie because it takes a relaxed laid back pace. The Actor Tony Leung is good as always. Zhang Zi Yi is good at playing slutty bad girl characters and looks great in a Qi Pao dress. Wong always has great scores and song selections as well.
Faye Wong was not bad
This face
I have become a fan of the 50's Hong Kong style, just like i'm a fan of 50's American style.
green on green on green. me likes because me use this kind of color scheme too
here she is breaking up with that boyfriend so he put her in a red dress against the green to add some stress to the shot.
Zhang Zi Yi was just sizzling in this movie. All my chinese girl friends hate her and all the guys love her. go figure.
Faye Wong was not bad
This face
I have become a fan of the 50's Hong Kong style, just like i'm a fan of 50's American style.
green on green on green. me likes because me use this kind of color scheme too
here she is breaking up with that boyfriend so he put her in a red dress against the green to add some stress to the shot.
Zhang Zi Yi was just sizzling in this movie. All my chinese girl friends hate her and all the guys love her. go figure.
Posted byJason Raish at 12:30 AM 1 comments
Labels: Movie Inspiration
New Work in March
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
This is for Yahoo! its part of this Yahoo! PurpleScape project with other artists. this will be shown in exhibitions in southeast asian countries. They said I could do anything i wanted so i thought now is my chance to do all the Japanese themed stuff i have been wanting to do. Japanese design is crazy and detailed so this of course meant major work for me. this beast took me a whole 7 days working on it at least 8 hrs a day. Like cultural African stuff Japanese stuff is kind of like cheating because everything looks so crazy already that you don't really need to do that much work in designing anything or making it look interesting. I prepped for this by watching Princess Mononoke and Totoro and Spirited Away, my fav Miyazaki movies. he is definitely influential and has an amazing imagination and makes the rest of us look like garbage. Here we have some mini sumos, samurais, tanukis, ninjas, giant rabbits, deer, koi no buri, those things they tie around huge trees, a pagoda like thing, paper umbrellas, bamboo poles, camphor trees, and bubbles instead of poison darts. I had to go and make it complicated did'nt i? Here is my rational:
This piece is Japanese inspired. The concept makes a spin on the processions that Daimyo warlords had to make every year to the capital of Edo. I tried to make this a little more fun and less serious that the shows of power and wealth that they really were. Instead of flying the Daimyo's flag they are flying Koi fish windsocks, which are used for Children's day in Japan. Instead of Ninjas blowing poison darts for assasinations they are blowing bubbles. Fun bubbles! Instead of a Daimyo Warlord being carried they are carrying a Tanuki, which is a mischevious mythical Racoon-like creature. I thought it would be fun to reverse the scale of things like the mini sumo wrestlers and the giant rabbits and giant trees.
too bad you can't see this in person. he has a gold chain with a "T", T for Tanuki
samurais take super long to draw. if you tried to be true to all the detail it would take you a month to draw one.
this is for Tiger Beer again. for their Tiger Translate artist project. this time they pair each illustrator up with a photographer and you have to "remix" the photo and illustrate ontop of it. The photographer was Sin Kok Wai from Singapore. clothes are hanging from poles outside the apartment complexes. straight and uniform buildings didnt give me a lot to work. Here is my rationale:
The scale of the laundry and everything in the photo is so small so I created this huge gentle giant to contrast the tiny clothes hanging out to dry. The photo is of a modern apartment complex made of concrete and steel so I tried to show something living and organic. I wanted it to look like he meant well and was helping out with the laundry, but the whole story of this beast is up the viewer. This piece is also pretty big, probably 2.5'x1.5'. I like this guy. he kind of just showed up on my napkin when i put my pen down on it when i was at dinner one night. it's awesome when things like that happen. (i mean i just drew the sketch of him without thinking, i would sheit myself if he really pulled up in a burger taxi, paid his fare in pickles, and plopped down on my napkin to havea chat with me).
Boston's weekly Dig used my kim jong il image for their cover.
Posted byJason Raish at 1:49 AM 5 comments
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